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Abbott denies Slipper conspiracy

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott insists there is no coalition conspiracy linked to a sexual harassment claim against former Speaker Peter Slipper.

Addressing media for the first time since allegations against Mr Slipper were dismissed by a Federal Court Judge on Wednesday, Mr Abbott again denied having any knowledge of Liberal National Party (LNP) involvement in the case.

"The Labor party should accept that there are no conspiracies here; there are no conspiracies whatsoever," Mr Abbott told reporters after arriving in London on Thursday.

"I think the Labor Party should stop hyperventilating. If the Labor Party thinks there's been some terrible injustice done to Mr Slipper, they should put him back into the Speaker's chair."

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On Wednesday, Federal Court Justice Steven Rares dismissed a sexual harassment claim by Mr Slipper's former staffer, James Ashby, saying the matter was an abuse of process with the main purpose of pursuing "a political attack" on the member for the Queensland seat of Fisher.

Asked about his involvement in the case against Mr Slipper, Mr Abbott replied "none whatsoever", and also denied knowledge of any role played by his federal coalition members.

"There are all sorts of rumours that have been running around about Mr Slipper for years," Mr Abbott said.

"Those rumours intensified in the weeks leading up to the court case or the lodgment of a claim against him."

But the Opposition Leader insisted he had no "specific knowledge" of the matter until it broke as a newspaper story on April 21 this year.

Mr Abbott rejected Labor Party plans for an inquiry into the coalition's involvement in the sexual harassment claim.

"I think any such inquiry would plainly be a bit of a witch-hunt," he said.

Acknowledging a potential appeal against Justice Rares's ruling, Mr Abbott said: " ... The only issues at stake are: did Mr Slipper sexually harass his former staffer? And why did the Prime Minister think he was a fit and proper person to be the Speaker in the first place?"

Mr Slipper resigned as federal Speaker in October after a series of lurid text messages between him and Mr Ashby were made public through court documents.

Mr Abbott said he would stand alongside his parliamentary colleagues in supporting Mal Brough, a former Howard government minister, who was named in the court judgment as having worked in "combination" with Mr Ashby and a fellow staffer to bring about the sexual harassment case in order to damage Mr Slipper.

He further confirmed Mr Brough as the LNP candidate for Fisher in the 2013 election.

"I think that Mal Brough was perfectly and properly endorsed by the Liberal National Party. He's been quite transparent and upfront about his involvement and, as I said, the matter is now subject to appeal," the Opposition Leader said.

Mr Abbott is in London for five days, during which he will meet British Foreign Secretary William Hague, Bank of England Governor Mervyn King and Mayor of London Boris Johnson.

He will also deliver a speech at the University of Oxford, where he once studied.